What I Liked
The Fifth Wave rises far above the genre of cheesy, oversimplified, "dystopian" Young Adult fiction, which is a very good thing. Yancey does not dumb his writing down for the sake of appealing to teenagers. He does not hesitate to depict horror in realistic, graphic ways. Never in my life have I enjoyed a book about aliens (I didn't realize this book was about aliens when I bought it), but I really did enjoy The Fifth Wave.

Cassie's character was strikingly real. Her voice was clear and had the right tones of child and individual forced into early adulthood. The childish memories of her past, the rugged determination to find her brother, the mixture of characteristics that would and should belong to a young adult whose life has been torn apart by a war before her very eyes. I really liked her character.

What I Didn't Like
I do have a few critiques about The Fifth Wave, which is why I'm not giving it 5 stars. There is a romantic relationship that takes place about a third of the way into the novel that reminds me quite a lot of Twilight (not a book I'd like to be reminded of). Honestly, I hated every "love interest" relationship in this book, except for perhaps whatever was going on between Ringer and Zombie.

Overall
Yancey's writing: excellent. The descriptions of the Waves, character development, backstories: excellent. Weird forbidden love: no, no no.